


12 Months

by supreme_genius



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-23
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2017-11-14 22:09:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 1,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supreme_genius/pseuds/supreme_genius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retrospective of a year together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. January

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Grimm.  
> I get no monetary gain from this.  
> Always unbeta'd.

Monroe's favorite month is January because he gets to kiss Nick as the ball drops. He likes to welcome the year, lips locked, with promises, hope, and love. Monroe loves January because it starts another year that he gets to spend with Nick. He likes January because it's cold and Nick looks cute all bundled up in his scarf and gloves; Monroe likes his cute red nose, too. He likes having the heavy quilt on the bed still and he loves when it snows and he gets to spend the entire day in bed with Nick. Monroe likes hot chocolate and soup and knitted sweaters and thermal pajamas. He likes when Nick comes along for snowy walks through the park and lunch at their favorite cafe. But most of all, Monroe loves the two snowmen boyfriends Nick built in the front yard that he came home to this afternoon after his latest comission.


	2. February

Both of them go all out for Valentine’s Day. Monroe is openly a hopeless romantic. He arranges a fancy dinner at their favorite restaurant, which he rents out for the night. Then there’s a carriage ride through the park – the one they always visit. At home there are rose petals and candles and chocolate covered strawberries. Nick tries to make it all out to not be a big deal. He doesn’t do anything extravagant. Instead, he opts for smaller things – the kind of things that will surprise Monroe. There’s a pocket watch in the antique shop they frequent. It’s not in working condition and Monroe can’t justify spending that kind of money on something that doesn’t work. But he wants it. Nick knows it. So that’s what he buys. When Monroe makes a big deal about it costing that much and not working, Nick will roll his eyes and say, “Well then, make it work.”


	3. March

March is a boring month. Sure, the guys enjoy St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s still a pretty uneventful month. It’s not yet warm enough to spend a whole lot of time outside. Monroe’s in the process of starting his spring cleaning. Nick spends his days doing lots of paperwork. With all the boredom, Monroe takes to making elaborate dinners. The first few are a disaster (complete pinterest fails). It’s weird food that Nick makes a face at and his stomach can’t handle. Then it’s fun twists on regular meals. Monroe makes a homemade deep-dish, veggie =-lovers pizza. Next is vegan burritos and homemade salsa and tortilla chips. Eventually Nick starts to look forward to the crazy dinners. 


	4. April

Nick loves April, loves the rain. It'd be kind of hard to live in the Pacific Northwest if he didn't. He likes when Monroe wears those silly rubber rain boots. He likes being huddled under the big umbrella with Monroe as they cross the parking lot of the grocery store. Nick loves when Monroe starts to plan out what flowers to buy and how to arrange them out front. He likes sitting on the sofa, surrounded by silence, save for the tapping on the rain against the windows. He won't admit it, but he likes when Monroe makes him tea. He's always been a coffee guy -- craves the caffeine -- but the tea and the rain are soothing after a long, tedious day. He loves chilly nights when neither of the feel like cooking some big dinner, but they've already ordered take-out three times this week, and they settle for grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup. 


	5. May

_April showers bring May flowers_. Monroe loves the beautiful colors and the variety of types. He can spend hours at the nursery looking at all the flowers, trying to decide what to put around the yard this year. He has a plan, drawings, a list of ideas. Nick constantly mocks him. Monroe gets him back by making him help with the planting. Mostly Monroe just likes to watch Nick get all sweaty and dirty. Monroe likes finally getting outside and breathing the fresh air into his lungs. He starts getting outside more in early April, but it's not until May that it's nice enough that he can spend almost his entire day outside. May is also when Monroe starts planning for Nick's birthday. He keeps the plans for the surprise party in with his flower designs for the yard. He knows Nick would never look there. 


	6. June

Monroe's favorite month is June because of the adorable look on Nick's face when he opens his birthday gifts. Monroe likes the warm weather and the cool cotton bedsheets. He likes sitting out back with a Guinness in his hand, watching Nick flip veggie burgers on the grill.  He especially likes when it starts getting hot enough that Nick sleeps in only his boxers; he likes that Nick never refuses a cuddle, no matter how hot it is. Monroe likes bonfires and yard sales and laying out back looking up at the stars. He likes grilled food -- veggie burgers, tofu-dogs, sweet potatoes.  He also likes going out to get ice cream and sharing a butterscotch sundae with Nick...especially when Nick pays. But most of all, Monroe loves the nighttime lullaby of Nick's heartbeat coinciding with the cicadas. 


	7. July

Nick loves the Fourth of July, always has. He loves watching the fireworks light up the night sky with bursts of vibrant color that rain overhead. He’s knows it’s lame, but he always celebrates by reading a few Captain America comics. And now that there are films, he watches those too. His friends have always made fun of him, but he doesn’t care, especially since Monroe’s right next to him on the sofa, popcorn in hand, watching the movies. Later that night they sit out in the yard, on an old quilt, and watch the fireworks. There’s a big party down at the park, but Nick and Monroe prefer low key. With a rainbow of illuminated colors overhead, just before the show it set to end, Nick leans over and presses a kiss to Monroe’s cheek.


	8. August

August is hot. Monroe hates hot. He hates being sticky and damn with sweat. He hates being forced inside with the air conditioning as to not have a heat stroke outside. He hates the haze that falls over the town. But what Monroe likes about the August heat is when Nick walks around the house half naked. At first it catches him by surprise – Nick walking around in nothing but his boxers – and he chokes on his iced tea. It doesn’t take long for Nick to figure out how it affects Monroe. That’s when he does it on purpose, just to rile Monroe up. Okay. So August isn’t too bad.


	9. September

Nick likes September because all the kids are finally back in school. He hates the spike in child crimes over the summer. He likes them safe in school and not out wandering the streets while their parents sit at work completely unsuspecting. It's those crimes that make Nick question being a detective and thankful that he's not a parent. He still keeps track of all the kids he's encountered during cases, especially the wesen kids. Barry is at Stanford and at the top of his class. Roddy is studying music at the state college while working part time for his dad. Hanson and Gracie finally found a foster family and are doing well in school. Holly he sees the most. She often comes over to spend time with Monroe and learn about being reformed. It took a while for her mother to understand everything, but she's doing alright now. Nick loves September because most of the parents of the kids he's helped send him school photos, all of which he has on a bulletin board in the den. Because it's often when he's at home with Monroe that he wonders about how his life would be if he'd have chosen a different path. Mostly he wonders if he would still be with Monroe; he wonders if Monroe would be safer. But then he looks at the kids he's helped and he knows he wouldn't have it any other way. 


	10. October

Nick's favorite month is October because he likes to surprise Monroe with the perfect birthday gift. He likes to take the entire month to shop and plan and work out every little kink in the birthday plans. He likes October because the brisk weather brings flannel shirts and sweaters and Monroe just looks so damn dapper. He likes the nights spent snuggled on the sofa with Monroe and a scary movie; those are nights well spent. He loves when Monroe puts the heavy quilt on the bed and he gets an extra excuse to snuggle just that little bit closer. Nick loves dragging Monroe to the mall to get ridiculous, matching Halloween costumes. He likes tagging along to the grocery store so he can get the good candy for the trick-or-treaters. He likes decorating the house -- in orange and black, pumpkins and skeletons -- with Monroe. But most of all, Nick loves how effortlessly they move about the kitchen together while he makes Jack-o-lanterns and Monroe bakes pumpkin pie.


	11. November

November isn't the best month for Monroe, or for Nick. It's been a long time since Monroe has been able to sit down and have a Thanksgiving dinner with his whole family. It's been even longer since Nick has. It's around this time that Monroe starts to miss the people he has lost -- his grandparents, Hap and Angelina, Larry. But he knows that no matter how much it hurts, he knows Nick is hurting worse. Monroe doesn't always see his parents because they can't seem to get along for more than an hour. But Nick, well, he fakes it. He says he's finally come to terms with it all, but Monroe doesn't believe him.

Nick focuses on covering all the carrot slices evenly with the glaze. He focuses on football and spending time with Monroe and Rosalee and Hank. He loves walking up behind Monroe, wrapping his arms around his waist, and snuggling close to whatever soft sweater he has on. He likes trying to sneak a spoonful of the filling for the pumpkin pie. He never succeeds, just gets his hand slapped. 

What Nick loves most is the day after Thanksgiving -- Black Friday. He and Monroe go out super early and shop for their friends and pick up a few things they both need that happen to be on sale -- socks, plain t-shirts, and one time a new television for the living room. Later in the day, they split up to shop for one another. Nick likes finding the perfect gift for Monroe -- one he'll give early -- to say thanks to Monroe for making Thanksgiving a little easier on him this year. 


	12. December

Ah, December. The end of another year together. Truly Monroe’s favorite month. Everyone that has ever known the man knows that he has a preternatural love of all things Christmas. Nick was one of those guys that procrastinated the decorating – he strung up lights 3 weeks before, got a tree two weeks before, and spent the week before Christmas doing his shopping. But now that he’s with Monroe, he’s started getting into the spirit. He begs Monroe to let him help set up the trains (eventually Monroe caves). Then he wants to bake cookies and make egg nog from scratch. He starts wrapping presents and adding elaborate bows. Before anyone can stop him, he’s pulling on Monroe’s Santa suit and visiting the children’s wing of the hospital, bringing them all gifts. And that becomes the biggest reason that Monroe loves Christmas…and Nick.


End file.
